House Baratheon (The Grand Campaign)
Lord Orys Baratheon (7978 - 8016) Lord Orys was alleged to be the younger brother of King Aegon of House Targaryen, and served as his right hand during Aegon's conquest of Westeros. While his brother Aegon cut a bloody swath through Westeros carving his own Kingdom, Orys instead used his diplomatic skills to bring Lords and Kings alike to his half-brother's cause. He wed Lady Morra Stark, the daughter of King Torrhen Stark in 7996, with whom he would have two sons and four daughters with. With the marriage he brought much needed soldiers to Aegon's armies, filling their ranks with Northern men. When Aegon first moved against House Arryn and the Kingdom of the Vale, Lord Orys led half of Aegon's forces, landing in the Fingers and taking Sunrise Keep to serve as a base of forward operations. At the Battle of Heart's Home, he commanded Aegon's infantry forces comprised of levies raised from the Claw, pinning the Vale armies against his shield wall as his brother atop Balerion the Black Dread burned the Vale line. The Vale would be the first to bend the knee to King Aegon, and Orys took the young Ronnel Arryn as his ward, ensuring the loyalty of House Arryn. He would send ravens next to House Stark, calling upon his good-father Torrhen to pledge to King Aegon, advice which was quickly followed. With the North and the Vale under King Aegon's control, the brothers turned next to the Riverlands, rocked by rebellion against their tyrannical liege, King Harren the Black of House Hoare. Orys, still commanding the Clawmen levies, marched down from the Bloody Gate into the province of Darry, while his brother took the new Vale levies against Harren's great castle of Harrenhal. A bloody battle would take place in Darry, as Harren turned aside from King Aegon's armies and his dragons and sought to destroy Orys', believing the battle to be assured. Instead, Orys stubbornly held his line until the arrival of his brother's sister-wife Rhaenys atop the dragon Meraxes. With Harren's army destroyed and his castle taken he surrendered his Kingdom to Aegon. Aegon would call a grand council next, to determine his next course of action. While the King's sister-wives would press Aegon to continue, Orys cautioned further advances, suggesting that they consolidate their rule over the lands they had gained before pressing forward. Stalwart advice, it would seem, for not long afterwards a series of bloody rebellions, known as the Great Riverland Rebellion would begin, with nearly every notable house from the Riverlands and Iron Isles rising up against their new King. With King Aegon beset by rebellion, the Southron Kings of Westeros would stir, banding together into a grand coalition known as the Shield of Westeros, and take the fight to the Dragon King. Battles would rage across the Riverlands for nearly half a decade, Orys himself being wounded in a skirmish near Maidenpool. Slowly though, the rebellions were squashed one by one with the assistance of the new Lord of the North, King Torrhen's son Brandon 'the Black Wolf'. Though the rebellions slowly came under control, the greatest fight was yet to come, as the combined armies of House Gardener, Lannister, Durrandon, and Martell combined to smash against King Aegon's host at the Battle of Antlers. Weakened by the rebellions and constant fighting, Aegon's army was severely outnumbered, and even despite the dragons Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar, would lose the field and be forced to flee from the Shield's host. As Aegon's host scattered, the Dragon King secretely raised a new one comprised of mercenaries and Mountain Clansmen from the Vale, sailing south to lay siege to Sunspear. With his brother sailing south, Orys was left in command of the remainder of Aegon's armies in the Riverlands. He would wage guerilla warfare against the attacking coalitions forces, utilizing his smaller numbers to pick off armies split off from the main host, and attempt to maintain order amongst Aegon's new vassal, some of which had begun to call for surrender. 'Have faith in your King. Have faith in Fire.' he would tell them. Aegon would arrive with his host in Sunspear, taking the castle's garrison by surprise, and capturing the entirety of House Martell captive. His ravens sent to the coalitions Kings were clear - surrender and bend the knee to him - the one King of Westeros, or he would destroy House Martell. The Gardeners, tied to the Martells by marriage were the first to accept King Aegon's demands, after a half hearted attempt at defiance which cost the lives of Prince Quentyn Martell and his brother Anders. Next the Lannisters would fold, followed finally by House Durrandon. With Westeros finally conquered, Aegon would settle his new capital in Oldtown, granting the island of Great Wyk and the Iron Isles to Orys Baratheon, considering the Ironborn to be the most potentially rebellious of his new subjects and wanting a man he could trust overseeing their lands. With the realm secured, Orys' brother turned to his family. Through the campaign he had sired four sons with his sister-wife Rhaenys, but no daughter to marry to his eldest, as was the Targaryen tradition. Without a daugter, the King instead called upon his brother again, demanding Orys eldest daughter for his son, despite a long standing betrothal between Jonella Baratheon and Lord Damon Darklyn. Orys relented, sending a healthy recompense to Lord Darklyn to maintain good relations, and the two were wed in Oldtown during a royal feast. What might have been an ending fit for songs and legends, the two brothers having conquered a continent and joined their houses together, instead ended in disaster. Upon the birth of Jonella's child, her husband, Aerion Targaryen renounced all claim to the child, claiming that the child was not his, but that of a Pentoshi merchant that had attended the marriage feast. Jonella protested, claiming she had never been unfaithful, but King Aegon in a fit of rage had her imprisoned, and issued threats to Lord Orys that he would execute her if he did not set sail for the capital immediately. Orys again bowed to his brother's wishes and boarded a ship from Hammerhorn bound for Oldtown, but when he arrived in the capital he recieved word from his daughter, who claimed she was being kept in degrading conditions and her life had been threatened. Orys placed his family above all matters, so when his daughter demanded a trial by combat to prove her innocence, he dutifully stood as her champion, believeing the allegations of a bastard birth to be a fabrication, whether by his own brother Aegon who had perhaps found some other bride for his son, or his heir Aerion, who had been reticent to agree to the union in the first place, his affections lieing with the baseborn daughter of Visenya Targaryen. What Orys did not expect, however, was that his brother the King would offer to stand as the other champion. His word given to stand for his daughter, Orys could not withdraw, but nor did he wish to see his brother harmed. The two brothers entered the dragon pit at Oldtown, Orys for his daughter's honour, and Aegon for his pride. Ser Gregor Goode, a kingsguard knight would later write a passage of the fight for Archmaester Harwyn's The Rule of Aegon I Targaryen, his words were as follows: "No man alive could question either of their skill at arms, and at first I believed the duel would be an endless affair, each champion battering the other into exhaustion. How wrong I was. In truth, I know now even if Aegon had entered the pit unarmed and unarmoured the result would have still been the same. I had seen Orys fight before...I served in his army during the Great Riverland Rebellion, he was untouchable; I watched him stand against six Ironborn reavers, saw him take a blow to the head that would have felled any other mortal man and continue fighting. But this was not the Orys that fought against his brother. His strikes were timid, almost a show, and those that landed were so soft that they did not harm the King. And when the King countered, Orys would drop his guard, again, and again, willing his brother to make the killing blow. To the untrained eye it was a spectacle worthy of song, to those like myself who had held a blade since they were a child...it was clear that Orys never intended to win the fight, never '''wanted' to win the fight. And when Blackfyre pierced Lord Orys' chest, there was no look of surprise on his face, only sadness." Fresh from his victory over his half-brother and filled with bloodlust, King Aegon called for the head of Orys' eldest daughter, Jonella Baratheon. He watched as his dragon Balerion burned her alive in the same dragonpit he had just fought her father, the blood from their duel still warm upon the sands. Many years later, following the death of King Aegon Targaryen, Archmaester Harwyn would publish his book ''The Rule of Aegon I Targaryen, devoting a great deal of the early chapters towards the life and accomplishments of Aegon's brother Orys. Of the man, he would state: "I served on the King's council for seven years, four of those alongside Lord Orys. I never knew a man quite like him. With a single word, he could calm even the most frantic of panic in men, with a single scowl he could cause armies to flee. Quick with a blade, sharp of mind, he was nonetheless one of the kindest and most loyal men I have ever known. While his brother the King would demand children as hostages from the noble houses of Westeros and make clear to their parents he would gladly execute them if he thought it would benefit him, Lord Orys instead took them into his care and treated them as he would his own blood; teaching them to fight, to lead, to rule. His integrity and honour were unquestionable - when Torrhen Stark expressed doubts for his daughters safety as Lord Orys' new bride, Orys brought a thousand northmen loyal to House Stark to his court, to serve as bodyguards to his own wife, even against himself. Lords who had fought bitterly against him came to hold him as their most dear friend, assassins sent against him would instead turn cloak and serve as his own sworn swords, and when he died, I feel the Kingdom lost a part of itself with him. The Gods played a cruel trick upon us, I feel, when it was Aegon who was born the eldest. He was a bastard by birth, Orys Baratheon, but he was the noblest of souls, the pinnacle of chivalry and honour." Lord Aerion Baratheon Lord Aerion, named after his grandfather, was ten years old at the time of his father's death. Since the age of six, he had been raised in Winterfell by his mother's family - House Stark. When news reached the North of Orys' slaying, and the subsequent execution of his daughter - the niece of Lord Paramount Brandon 'the Black Wolf', the castle took on a grim tone. A grand council was called in the great hearth of Winterfell, and upon the day of its commencement, the hall was filled not only with Lords of Northern houses. The banners of House Darklyn, Durrandon, Arryn, Frey, and Mallister also adorned the halls. Even men who had never known Aerion's father Orys gathered to pledge their swords to his son, such was his reputation. Too young to understand the full extent of what was conspiring, the young Lord Aerion understood well enough that the Lords and Ladies gathered at Winterfell were there to avenge his father's death, and when Lord Damon Darklyn came before Aerion and went to one knee and asked if he missed his father, and wished to see the man responsible for his death and the death of Aerion's sister brought to justice, he knew in his heart the answer was yes. Such was the legacy of Orys Baratheon, that even in death men shouted his name, sharpened their swords, and marched to war for his memory. Within a fortnight, the skies across Westeros were dark with ravens, calling every Lord, high and low to arms - For the King, For Orys. Fate plays cruel tricks upon the realms of men though, and however noble and righteous their cause may have been, King Aegon had dragons. Men in their thousands burned, cities were captured and recaptured, fleets sunk by dragonfire, and in the end it was King Aegon 'the Cruel' who stood above the ashes, victorious. The Black Wolf would flee from Westeros, Lord Damon Darklyn and his brother would die in battle, the Lady Lia Durrandon's head and lands would be taken from her by Aegon, and Aerion would be forced to abdicate to his younger brother. Lord Torrhen Baratheon (8008 - 8033) Torrhen was eight when his father died in 16AL, but unlike his brother Aerion he was raised at Hammerhorn, or at Oldtown when his father had business to attend to there. At a young age, he adopted the faith and tradition of his mother's family, the Starks of Winterfell, and would spend his younger years studying books and swordplay in the newly built Godswood at Hammerhorn. When the Year of Revolts took place, Torrhen was sent west, to the isle of Lonely Light for his protection. Unlike his older brother, Torrhen showed great promise as a warrior, even if he devoted a greater deal of his times to the study of diplomacy, in honour of his father's teachings. During his time in Oldtown, he developed a lasting friendship with the baseborn daughter of Visenya Targaryen, whom had been disowned by King Aegon and declared a bastard. While other houses might look down on such a 'stain', Torrhen did not care - his father Orys had been born a bastard as well, and if even half the stories he was told of him were true, he was one of the truest of men Westeros had even known.